Not only survived – thrived. From January 7 through January 13, Kel and I joined Somer and lots of other folks in the first Green Smoothie Challenge of 2013. This was a positive, healthy and delicious way to kick off the new year. The hardest part of the Challenge? Banning my much-loved carbohydrates: whole grain bread (slathered with almond butter), brown rice, potatoes, hot rolled grains in the morning and my evening snack of Cheerios or Weetabix. (Actually, it wasn’t that hard.) The easiest part was not having to think about what I was preparing and eating and that’s because Somer did all of the work by providing recipes and detailed instructions. And since she’s an incredible cook, I knew the recipes would be really delicious. Throughout the Challenge I snapped photos with my phone and shared them via Instagram. As you can see, we did not go hungry.

Kel and I went strong throughout (even bringing my Vitamix, soups and loads of greens, veggies and fruit on a road trip we took) but fell off the wagon in a spectacular way on the last day of the Challenge during a day trip to Las Vegas. I’d heard that Vegas is a very vegan-friendly town and indeed, it offers a lot of plant-based dining options. I call it Las Vegan now, as a matter of fact. While I have ample will power to bypass the slots and gaming tables, I just didn’t have the strength to say no to lunch at 100% vegan bakery and bistro, Pura Vida. Photos below.

Binge eating in Vegas aside – – there’s no need to wait for the next challenge – – start one today! Click here to get the information and all the recipes you’ll need.

I had a few touch-and-go moments, Richa 😉 – but overall it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

I’m not a big Vegas fan either; not my kind of scene at all, but – it had been ages since I’d been there and it IS fascinating in its own way. It has become such a foodie town over the years and I’d heard good things about the vegan food that I wanted to check it out. Glad I did.

HARD CORE! It was so incredible to have you doing the challenge with me, we were like Batman and Robin Superheros! (you’re Batman) Thanks so much girl. I love you to bits! The photos look incredible. And the Vegas feast was an incredible way to celebrate!!! Such incredible food!

SO glad we did it! Your recipes made it easy and delicious – so with all due respect – YOU are Batman ;-)! Kel and I are still having 1-2 smoothies per day and last night we had a huge veggie salad w/ oil-free goddess. Really want to make green a habit. Love you, too, babe.

That burrito looks scrumptious! I could never have resisted such healthy meals either especially after you’d done so well for a week, and travel too? You’ll have to re-create some of those lunch dishes for us in a post!

Oh you’ve got to go! I know you would have a blast – it’s the most silly, absurd place. And the people watching is beyond compare. Would love to see your blog post about Vegas. Sadly, the Liberace museum closed…

Lol…Kaylies meal at the end of that splurge doesn’t make up for the splurge girl! ;). If that was a splurge, go for it, a more healthy splurge I haven’t seen! I was expecting deep fried stuff (secretly lusting after deep fried stuff photo’s…). It was an amazing challenge wasn’t it! I loved it so much I am carrying on with it and am integrating the smoothies as breakfast until winter hits home hard and makes me reconsider my oatmeal fetish. There was so much food on Somers plan, I didn’t actually manage to eat everything listed every day. I lost 5lb and wasn’t even hungry, thirsty or feeling stinted in any way at all and I feel amazing. All thanks to one most determined lady and a really good plan :).

Amazing!! Good for you for carrying on with the good habits. I’m doing the same – giving up my morning oats for smoothies and having one big salad a day. As for Kaylie, she wasn’t on the Challenge – we happened to meet at Pura Vida. Those pancakes were my splurge and let me tell you, they felt quite decadent! I also treated myself to a soy latte (or two…).

Congrats on completing the challenge! I don’t know if I could do it, lol. I agree though with eating more greens. I’ve been making myself huge salads for lunch using spinach, kale & arugula as the base and then adding veggies, dried fruit, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and sprouts!

Looks amazing as usual, I am not even sure which one is my favorite. Your pictures always make me hungry! Congrats on your challenge, you are superstar! Hello from the Dudette (in case you remember) with a new blog and a real name!

Hi! Life’s been crazy. I’ve been trotting around Europe and Turkey for the past 6 months (that’s not really on my blog), the health journey is still a journey, I learned a lot on the way, and as I recall I do feel generally better than a year ago, but the headaches are yet to disappear.